arke yet more eager to leave the town. He had
settled with Houseman that he would abscond that very night, not wait
for the next, as at first he had intended. His jewels and property were
put in a small compass. He had arranged that he would, towards midnight
or later, quit his lodging; and about a mile from the town, Houseman
had engaged to have a chaise in readiness. For this service Clarke had
promised Houseman a reward, with which the latter appeared contented. It
was arranged that I should meet Houseman and Clarke at a certain spot
in their way from the town, and there--! Houseman appeared at first
fearful, lest I should relent and waver in my purpose. It is never so
with men whose thoughts are deep and strong. To resolve was the arduous
step--once resolved, and I cast not a look behind. Houseman left me for
the present. I could not rest in my chamber. I went forth and walked
about the town; the night deepened--I saw the lights in each house
withdrawn, one by one, and at length all was hushed--Silence and Sleep
kept court over the abodes of men. That stillness--that quiet--that
sabbath from care and toil--how deeply it sank into my heart! Nature
never seemed to me to make so dread a pause. I felt as if I and my
intended victim had been left alone in the world. I had wrapped myself
above fear into a high and preternatural madness of mind. I looked
on the deed I was about to commit as a great and solemn sacrifice to
Knowledge, whose Priest I was. The very silence breathed to me of a
stern and awful sanctity--the repose, not of the charnel-house, but the
altar. I heard the clock strike hour after hour, but I neither faltered
nor grew impatient. My mind lay hushed in its design.

"The Moon came out, but with a pale and sickly countenance. Winter was
around the earth; the snow, which had been falling towards eve, lay deep
upon the ground; and the Frost seemed to lock the Universal Nature into
the same calm and deadness which had taken possession of my soul.

"Houseman was to have come to me at midnight, just before Clarke left
his house, but it was nearly two hours after that time ere he arrived.
I was then walking to and fro before my own door; I saw that he was not
alone, but with Clarke. 'Ha!' said he, 'this is fortunate, I see you are
just going home. You were engaged, I recollect, at some distance from
the town, and have, I suppose, just returned. Will you admit Mr. Clarke
and myself for a short time--for to tell y